Do you know what feels good?
Achieving a goal.
When you work for yourself, all you do is set your own goals. If you don’t achieve your goals in business you’ll fail fast and hard. Getting things done in a self-directed manner is paramount to your success.
Self-discipline = Success.
Even something as simple as striking something off of a list feels good.
I’m not talking about some massive goals (though those are also great to complete) – here I’m talking about any goal.
Small goals. Big goals. Huge goals. Anything.
Getting things done just feels good.
Let me give you an example …
The other day I came back from a trip to Miami. When I got home I knew I needed to bring my bags in, unpack my bags, put things away and get ready for the next day. I also needed to spend some time with my children because I missed them and had been gone for nearly 6 days. I also needed to write 1000 words for a new book I’m working on (as well as reply to some of you who have replied to some of my emails – thank you all by the way).
I got home at 715pm and usually go to bed at 9:30pm-10pm. There’s not much time to do all fo that. So I got after it as soon as the car was parked in the garage …
My first goal was to get our car unpacked.
I parked and immediately brought everything in a couple trips. Goal achieved.
That felt good.
Next goal: Get the bags upstairs and unpack.
I brought them up, and then immediately got interrupted by the kids’ bedtime routine. For the next hour or so I helped them get ready for bed, showers, talked to them about their week and spent quality time with them. It ended with some much-needed affection between us all.
Spend time with kids: Goal achieved
That felt good.
It was now 8:45 pm and I’m already getting tired. I still had to unpack my bags.
Ugh. At this point I’m tired, I want to start winding down.
“I can do this tomorrow”.
NO.
I pushed through the desire to relax and unpacked my bags, put everything away and put my luggage away where it belongs. It doesn’t even look like I traveled anymore.
Unpack bags: Goal achieved
That felt pretty good. So glad that is done.
In fact, that gave me some energy and inspiration to keep going.
I like this.
I remembered that I needed to schedule some contractors to give us some quotes on having some hardwood floors installed in part of our house.
Since it was a small goal I figured “I’ll just do that tomorrow.”
Then I realized “NO, DUMMY, you can do that right now, online in a few minutes.”
I stopped what I was doing and scheduled a contractor online to come over next week.
Schedule contractor for a quote: Goal achieved
That felt good. Damn, another thing is done. Hell yeah. I’m getting some momentum.
I’m starting to feel REAL GOOD because I’m accomplishing a lot.
After that, I sit down, turn off notifications on my computer and crank out 1000 words for my upcoming book (more on that later) and by then it’s around 10:15 pm. Past my bedtime.
Write 1000 words: Goal achieved
Goddamn, that feels good.
I went out and hung out with my wife for a few minutes and then went to bed.
What’s the point in telling you all of this?
Because setting goals, even if small, and getting them done feels good.
Remember that time you created a todo list and you started to strike those items off of them throughout the day? How did you feel? I’d wager that you felt pretty damn good when you were done.
I feel this way about getting things done around the house, scheduling calls, writing code, writing words or copy, anything.
Big goals or small goals. Inconsequential goals. Any of them feel good to get done. Even changing the cat litter, I’m happy when it’s done.
When you set goals, even small, and continue to execute and get them done over and over, your confidence and discipline compounds. Your confidence and discipline get stronger, and well, you get better as a person. You become a better version of who you really are.
Whatever goals you have right now, be it big or small. Start on them.
Maybe you’re feeling unproductive. Take something small, and do it. Just start it. Do something.
Take out the trash. DONE. That felt good.
Maybe you need to do a long intensive task on the computer and you really don’t want to do it. Do it for 5 minutes, that’s all. Most likely it will compound into 15-20mins (or more). This happens to me all the time.
The goal is to set goals and get them done. Pun intended.
Why?
Achieving goals feels good and builds tremendous momentum when done over and over again.
Ride the wave of confidence into the next set of goals you have and let it propel you.
Now I’m off to finish my next goal – hitting publish on this post.
Photo: Glenn Carstens-Peters
